A report from The Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) finds that solar energy development can benefit Tennessee’s land—especially when compared to other types of development.
By: Matt Kisber
Date: June 11, 2024
The Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) has released a report laying out the results of its investigation into solar energy development’s impact on land and communities in Tennessee. The report concludes that solar energy development, when planned and executed responsibly, can benefit Tennessee’s land and communities — including its agricultural land — especially when compared to other types of development.
As described on the official Tennessee state government website, TACIR is an independent intergovernmental body that “serves as a forum for the discussion and resolution of intergovernmental problems.” Its 25 members include public officials drawn from state and local government as well as private citizens. I was privileged to serve as a member of TACIR myself in years gone by.
TACIR undertook this investigation in response to legislation enacted in 2022 directing the commission to study issues stemming from the development of utility-scale solar facilities in Tennessee. In the words of the introduction to TACIR’s report on solar energy and land use:
Property rights, land use—including the loss of prime farmland and undeveloped land—aesthetics, environmental effects, and the desire to protect landowners are driving disputes and raising questions among stakeholders about utility-scale solar development across Tennessee and the country as utilities look to add more large solar facilities to their energy portfolios.
TACIR’s analysis of these issues led to the series of findings presented in the report, which can help Tennessee communities both understand and support continued solar development in their state.
Perhaps the most important service that TACIR has performed for Tennesseans by undertaking this investigation as a nonpartisan intergovernmental body is to allay fears that solar energy development in Tennessee constitutes a threat to farming in the state by removing fertile land from agricultural production. Rather, TACIR found that “solar facilities are unlikely to be the primary driver of agricultural and undeveloped land loss in the coming decades” and further noted that “unlike other developments, the likelihood exists that land can be returned to agricultural production after a solar facility reaches the end of its useful life.”
As the report goes on to explain,
Currently, TVA plans to add 10,000 megawatts (MW) of solar power generation by 2035 throughout its service area—which includes parts of seven states, not just Tennessee. Even if all these facilities were developed on Tennessee farmland, they would account for approximately 100,000 acres taken out of production, 1% of farmland in the state. In comparison, the amount of farmland in Tennessee decreased by 1.1 million acres (9.3%) from 1997 through 2017.
Figures drawn from TACIR’s 2023 Report, “Managing Solar Energy Development to Balance Private Property Rights and Consumer Protection with the Protection of Land and Communities” and from the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture’s 2023 Annual Report to the Governor.
According to researchers at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, most of this loss of farmland was converted to residential development, not to solar development. The TACIR report also notes that “it is possible to develop utility-scale solar facilities without taking farmland out of production. Often referred to as agrivoltaics or dual-use solar, this approach involves grazing animals or growing crops between or under the panels” that make up a solar farm. While agrivoltaics remains a “possibility” for many solar developers, Silicon Ranch is already implementing it to the highest industry standard through our Regenerative Energy® program, which pioneered agrivoltaics in the Southeast. Our regenerative land practices, which you can learn more about here and from the video below, separate Silicon Ranch’s solar farms from virtually all other kinds of development when it comes to the sustained wellbeing of farmland and agricultural production.
Our ranchers and land management technicians are executing every day on our mission to go beyond the principle of “do no harm” when it comes to the land that hosts our projects and are actually improving the arability of the land under our solar modules through regenerative grazing practices. By grazing the land under our solar modules with sheep wherever possible, as opposed to mowing all of the land mechanically, we allow the all-important microbes in the topsoil access to the fertilizing effects of our sheep’s manure. In this way, nature’s cycles continue to function, keeping the animals fed and the soil fertile. You can listen to our partner in land management, Will Harris of White Oak Pastures farm, recount in the clip below from the Joe Rogan Experience podcast the story of how he first explained these regenerative practices to our CEO and co-founder Reagan Farr. As TACIR’s report emphasizes, Tennesseans don’t have to choose between rich soil and clean energy.
The report also flags the significant economic benefits that solar development provides to communities. “The Commission has found that while they are operating,” the report reads, “solar facilities generate revenue for landowners and tax revenue for local governments.” As the only solar developer that owns and operates all of its projects throughout their lifespan with an unrivaled record of project delivery, Silicon Ranch projects provide a new source of tax revenue for the communities that welcome us, generating funds that can be used for education, infrastructure, and other community priorities, while requiring minimal government services in exchange.
With the kind of community-first solar projects that we build and operate at Silicon Ranch, Tennessee communities can have economic development, access to cost-effective and reliable clean energy, and fertile soil without having to compromise on any of these priorities. This is precisely the kind of win-win-win scenario in which we specialize, and it’s gratifying to have a disinterested third party like TACIR encourage us to continue promoting stronger, healthier, and more resilient communities through our solar projects in Tennessee.